One of the Worst Crimes possible Child abuse
by HermionePeace
Summary: Layla is a young girl that is abused. She's just moved to Maxville were she meets one of the following Will, Lash, Warren, or Zach. She falls in love. But one night her father rapes her. And the boy saves her. IMPORTANT NOTE ON CHAPTER 3
1. Layla

My name is luka By:Suzanne Vega

Summory: Layla is a young girl that is abused. She's just moved to Maxville were she meets one of the following Will, Lash, Warren, or Zach. She falls in love. But one night her father rapes her. And the boy saves her. Follows the songs My name is Luka and Frozen By:Withen tempation

**_2 Chapter story_**

If the lyrics are in bold Layla is saying it aloud if it's bold **and** underlined it's just related.

**My name is Luka**

My name is Layla

**  
****I live on the second floor**

I ran down the stairs from the 2nd floor to get the mail. We had just moved here from New York. I liked Maxville, it's more peaceful.

A boy my age maybe a little older- I was always terrible with ages- looked at me funny.

**  
****"I live upstairs from you," **I said looking at him.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

"**Yes, I think you've seen me before," **I said with a small smile.**  
**

I hesitated before saying, "**If you hear something late at night, some kind of trouble, some kind of fight." ****  
**

"**Just don't ask me what it was," **I said looking up at him.

"What goes on?" he asked me, getting interested.

**"Just don't ask me what it was," **I repeated looking away.

"What does he do to you?" he asked me taking a step closer.

**"Just don't ask me what it was!" **I said forcefully.

"**I think its because I'm clumsy," **I said, knowing it wasn't true.**  
**

**I try not to talk too loud  
**

"I'll try not to talk to loud" I said walking away.

**_Later _**

I sat on a wall by the beach. "Why does he hit me?" I asked myself.

**"Maybe its because I'm crazy," **I said aloud to myself.

**"I try not to act too proud," **I said.

"So he hits you," The boy said, walking over and sitting down to my left.

**"He only hit until you cry,"** I said not looking at him.

**"And after that you don't ask why,"** I said not looking at him. "I never know what I did, he just hits over and over and over."

**"You just don't argue anymore,"** I said pulling my knees to my chest.

**"You just don't argue anymore,"** I repeated forgetting the boy was still there.

**"You just don't argue anymore,"** I said again.

* * *

"Hey, you ok?" A girl asked me, her long black, purple, streaked hair in a high ponytail.**  
**

**"Yes I think I'm okay,"** I started

**"I walked into the door again,"** I said with a fake, yet convincing, laugh. She nodded and walked away.

"Now we both know that's not true" The boy said walking up behind me.

"**Well, if you ask that's what I'll say," **I said to him.**  
**

"**And its not your business anyway," **I countiued glaring at him.

"Why do you push everyone away?" he asked me.

"**I guess I'd like to be alone,**" I said looking away.**  
**

"**With nothing broken, nothing thrown,"** I explained looking away.**  
**

**Just don't ask me how I am**

"Why don't you go to the police?" he asked looking at me with worry and concern.

**Just don't ask me how I am**

"I have, friends have, but my father turns into the perfect husband and father. last time he put me in the hospital after it happened," I cried tears falling down my face.

**Just don't ask me how I am**

"Let me help you" he pleaded.

"I can't endanger you I- I think I'm—" I couldn't finish.

"You think you're what?" he edged on.

"I think I'm falling in love with you" I said and turned and ran.

**_A/N PLEASE READ IT WONT TAKE LONG_**

**_Please everyone if you or someone you know is being abused GET HELP. It could be a friend, your BEST FRIEND even, or family, or mabye just someone you know. Please MY best friend was a victom to abuse. If I HAD seen it then mabye I wouldn't be visiting her grave everyday. She died two years ago and not a day goes by that I don't miss her. Her name was Crissy,like me... she was a blonde beauty, she loved kids was a kind and loving girl that always thought of others NEVER herself, and mabye that's why she never told because she thought it was selfish. But remember to know that it's NEVER ok to be hit, nor is it ever your fault. There are many people who are willing to help. When I sat by the fire the nights after Crissy died my older brother told me "Mabye god sent Crissy to you so you could help others." I'm to young to really have a job were I help abuse victoms, but I'm starting with stories. _**

**_I'm going to post a story soon that will be about a girl named Jennifer that is being abused. It's to show you what it's like to help the abused and the diffrents You can make. It Will Be called Making a Difference._**

**_Here I have listed jobs that can help abused children_**

Socail Worker

Teacher

Nurse

Doctor

phyciatris

FBI

police

**And so many more.**

**_You CAN save an abused kid and be there Hero. It doesn't matter how old you are you can always make a change you can always be the one that saves the Child like I wish I'd saved Crissy. _**


	2. Frozen

A/N here's chapter 2. Please read the info at the bottem.

**Chapter 2 Frozen**

_**I can´t feel my senses  
I just feel the cold  
All colors seem to fade away  
I can´t reach my soul  
I would stop running, If knew there was a chance  
It tears me apart to sacrifice it all but I´m forced to let go**_

Layla stood at the counter pealing potatoes, putting all her weight on one leg. He'd broken it when he pushed a bookcase of books on her. I always cried, and begged him to leave her alone, but he never did._**Tell me I´m frozen but what can I do?  
Can´t tell the reasons I did it for you  
When lies turn into truth I sacrificed for you  
you say that I´m frozen but what can I do?**_

He comes in and smiles with and evil glint in his eyes. Layla rushes over and gives him a hug and a kiss on his cheek.

She takes his hat, coat, and cane and puts them away. She gets him some coffee and scones. She waits till he's satisfied, to sit down. He took a sip of his coffee; an angry look shadows his face. _**I can feel your sorrow  
You won't forgive me,  
but I know you'll be all right  
It tears me apart that you will never know but I have to let go**_**  
**

"LAYLA ANGELA WILLIAMS, THIS IS AWFUL!" he yells and breaks the coffee cup over her head. She cried out in surprise… and pain. He grabbed her arm and starts to pull her up the stairs.

"CARL, PLEASE, LEAVE HER ALONE," I scream. He turns to look at me and hits me across the face.

I got up, and ran to her room. I started to bang on Layla's door. She was screaming; I knew what he was doing to her, he'd never… never, gone that far before.

**  
**_**Tell me I´m frozen but what can I do?  
Can´t tell the reasons I did it for you  
When lies turn into truth I sacrificed for you  
You say that I´m frozen but what can I do?**_

He walked out half an hour later laughing evilly.

"YOU MONSTER!" I screamed. He pulled me to our room and started to beat me._**Everything will slip way  
Shattered peaces will remain  
When memories fade into emptiness  
Only time will tell its tale  
If it all has been in vain**_

After he left I ran to Layla's room. Her usually made bed was a wreck.

She was huddled in the corner of her room, crying. I past out I was beaten so badly.

**Will, Zach, Warren, or Lash's POV** **  
**

I had heard the screams when I got home, and ran up the stairs to her apartment.

I ran into her room to see her huddled in the corner, wearing a reveling white nightgown. Blood was stained on her legs.

That son of a bitch, I swore to kill him later, but now only Layla mattered. I picked her up bridal style, and carried her to my apartment down stairs.

My mother shooed me out as she cleaned a hysterical Layla. She finally managed to get her to change, into a long floor length green gown.

When my father came home I told him what happened. He was outraged… and swore that he'd help me kill her son of a bitch father.

The rest of the night she spent curled up in my chest. "I'll never let him hurt you again," I whispered to her sleeping form. **  
**

_**I can't feel my senses**_

**Mrs. William's POV**

I woke up on the floor of Layla's room… she was gone. I got up, and walked over to the cabinet. I pulled out some rat poisoning.

I put it in the coffee.

_**  
**__**I just feel the cold  
Frozen...  
But what can I do?  
Frozen...  
Tell me I'm frozen but what can I do?  
Can't tell the reasons I did it for you**_

When he came home I gave him some coffee like always.

The next morning he was dead. I let the police arrest me. I knew that boy's family would take care of my daughter.

_**  
When lies turn into truth I sacrificed for you  
You say that I´m frozen, frozen...**_

**Years Later Layla's POV**

"I'm Annie Jonstone and I'm sitting with the real Layla Williams of the movie **Under the Surface**. Layla tell us about yourself."

"My name is Layla. I was in an abusive home till I was in my freshman year at High School. I was hit, then one night… raped. I was rescued, but not many abused children get someone like that. If you or someone you know is being abused, tell someone. If you think someone's being abused call the number on the screen." (A/N I couldn't find a number that you could really call but read the authors note underneath)

"I'd like to introduce you to my rescuer Warren Peace."

_**Author's note**_

Child abuse is reported on an average of every 10 seconds and three children die every day as a result of such abuse. Sadly, Colorado has one of the highest rates of child abuse in the country. According to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, homicide is the second leading cause of injury deaths for children under age 5 in Colorado. 34 children under age 5 died of child abuse in 2004 and 2005.

Each year, tens of thousands of children are traumatized by physical, sexual, and emotional abusers or by caregivers who neglect them, making child abuse as common as it is shocking. The scars can be deep and long-lasting, affecting not just abused children but society. You can learn the signs and symptoms of child abuse and find out where to get help for the children and their caregivers

Child abuse facts

Most of us can't imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behavior is, the more unimaginable it seems. But the incidence of parents and other caregivers consciously, even willfully, committing acts that harm the very children they're supposed to be nurturing is a sad fact of human society that cuts across all lines of ethnicity and class. Whether the abuse is rooted in the perpetrator's mental illness, substance abuse, or inability to cope, the psychological result for each abused child is often the same: deep emotional scars and a feeling of worthlessness.

In the United States, the federal legislation that sets minimum standards for how states handle child abuse defines child abuse and neglect as "any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm." In 2005, the most recent year for which the U.S. government has figures, 12.1 of every 1,000 American children, almost 900,000 in all, suffered abuse by adults, with parents of victims accounting for almost 80 percent of the abusers. Every day, about four children die in the U.S. because of abuse or neglect, most of them babies or toddlers. And those are just the cases authorities know about: for every incidence of child abuse or neglect that gets reported, it's estimated that two others go unreported.

There are four primary types of child abuse:

physical abuse

sexual abuse

emotional abuse

neglect

While the first two categories get the most attention, perhaps because they involve physical violence, neglect is far and away the most common form of child abuse, accounting for more than 60 percent of all cases of child maltreatment

Child neglect: types and warning signs

Neglect is a pattern of failing to provide for a child's basic needs, to the extent that the child's physical and/or psychological well-being are damaged or endangered. In child neglect, the parents or caregivers are simply choosing not to do their job. There are three basic types of neglect.

**Physical Neglect**

Failure to provide adequate food, clothing, or hygiene

Reckless disregard for the child's safety, such as inattention to hazards in the home, drunk driving with kids in the car, leaving a baby unattended

Refusal to provide or delay in providing necessary health care for the child

Abandoning children without providing for their care or expelling children from the home without arranging for their care

**Educational Neglect**

Failure to enroll a child in school

Permitting or causing a child to miss too many days of school

Refusal to follow up on obtaining services for a child's special educational needs

**Emotional Neglect**

Inadequate nurturing or affection

Exposure of the child to spousal abuse

Permitting a child to drink alcohol or use recreational drugs

Failure to intervene when the child demonstrates antisocial behavior

Refusal of or delay in providing necessary psychological care

Some signs of child neglect:

Clothes that are dirty, ill-fitting, ragged, and/or not suitable for the weather

Unwashed appearance; offensive body odor

Indicators of hunger: asking for or stealing food, going through trash for food, eating too fast or too much when food is provided for a group

Apparent lack of supervision: wandering alone, home alone, left in a car

Colds, fevers, or rashes left untreated; infected cuts; chronic tiredness

In schoolchildren, frequent absence or lateness; troublesome, disruptive behavior or its opposite, withdrawal

In babies, failure to thrive; failure to relate to other people or to surroundings

A single occurrence of one of these indicators isn't necessarily a sign of child neglect, but a pattern of behaviors may demonstrate a lack of care that constitutes abuse.

Physical child abuse: types and warning signs

**Physical child abuse **is an adult's physical act of aggression directed at a child that causes injury, even if the adult didn't intend to injure the child. Such acts of aggression include striking a child with the hand, fist, or foot or with an object; burning the child with a hot object; shaking, pushing, or throwing a child; pinching or biting the child; pulling a child by the hair; cutting off a child's air. Such acts of physical aggression account for between 15 and 20 percent of documented child abuse cases each year.

Many physically abusive parents and caregivers insist that their actions are simply forms of discipline, ways to make children learn to behave. But there's a big difference between giving an unmanageable child a swat on the backside and twisting the child's arm until it breaks. Physically abusive parents have issues of anger, excessive need for control, or immaturity that make them unable or unwilling to see their level of aggression as inappropriate.

Sometimes the very youngest children, even babies not yet born, suffer physical abuse. Because many chemicals pass easily from a pregnant woman's system to that of a fetus, a mother's use of drugs or alcohol during pregnancy can cause serious neurological and physiological damage to the unborn child, such as the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome; mothers can also pass on drugs or alcohol in breast milk. A woman who drinks or uses drugs when she knows she's pregnant can be charged with child abuse in many jurisdictions if her baby is born with problems because of the substance use.

Another form of child abuse involving babies is **shaken baby syndrome**, in which a frustrated caregiver shakes a baby roughly to make the baby stop crying. The baby's neck muscles can't support the baby's head yet, and the brain bounces around inside its skull, suffering damage that often leads to severe neurological problems and even death. While the person shaking the baby may not mean to hurt him, shaking a baby in a way that can cause injury is a form of child abuse.

An odd form of physical child abuse is Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, in which a parent causes a child to become ill and rushes the chlld to the hospital or convinces doctors that the child is sick. It's a way for the parent to gain attention and sympathy, and its dangers to the child constitute child abuse.

Is corporal punishment the same as physical abuse?

Corporal **punishment**, the use of physical force with the intent of inflicting bodily pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or control, used to be a very common form of discipline: most of us know it as spanking or paddling. And many of us were spanked as children without damage to body or psyche.

The widespread use of physical punishment, however, doesn't make it a good idea. Most child-care experts have come to agree that corporal punishment sends the message to children that physical force is an appropriate response to problems or opposition. The level of force used by an angry or frustrated parent can easily get out of hand and lead to injury. Even if it doesn't, what a child learns from being hit as punishment is less about why conduct is right or wrong than about behaving well — or hiding bad behavior — out of fear of being hit.

Signs of physical child abuse include visible marks of maltreatment, such as cuts, bruises, welts, or well-defined burns, and reluctance to go home. If you ask a child about how he or she got hurt and the child talks vaguely or evasively about falling off a fence or spilling a hot dish, think hard before you accept the child's story at face value.

Sexual abuse in children: types and warning signs

Sexual abuse, which accounts for about 10 percent of child abuse, is _any_ sexual act between an adult and a child. Such acts include:

**Behavior involving penetration – **vaginal or anal intercourse and oral sex

**Fondling** – Touching or kissing a child's genitals, making a child fondle an adult's genitals.

**Violations of privacy** – Forcing a child to undress, spying on a child in the bathroom or bedroom.

**Exposing children to adult sexuality** – Performing sexual acts in front of a child, exposing genitals, telling "dirty" stories, showing pornography to a child.

**Exploitation – Selling a child's services as a prostitute or a performer in pornography.**

The adult who sexually abuses a child or adolescent is usually someone the child knows and is supposed to trust: a relative, childcare provider, family friend, neighbor, teacher, coach, or clergy member. More than 80 percent of sex offenders are people the child or adolescent victims know. It's important to understand that no matter what the adult says in defense of his or her actions, the child did not invite the sexual activity and the adult's behavior is wrong. **_Sexual abuse is never the child's fault._**

Children are psychologically unable to handle sexual stimulation. Even toddlers, who haven't formulated the idea that the sexual abuse is wrong, will develop problems resulting from the over stimulation. Older children who know and care for their abusers know that the sexual behavior is wrong, but they may feel trapped by feelings of loyalty and affection. Abusers warn their victims not to tell, threatening children with violence or ostracism, and the shame associated with the sexual activity makes the child especially reluctant to tell. When sexual abuse occurs within the family, children may worry that other family members won't believe them and will be angry with them if they tell — as is often the case. The layer of shame that accompanies sexual abuse makes the behavior doubly traumatizing.

Some signs of sexual child abuse

Often children who have suffered sexual abuse show no physical signs, and the abuse goes undetected unless a physician spots evidence of forced sexual activity. However, there are behavioral clues to sexual abuse, including:

Inappropriate interest in or knowledge of sexual acts

Seductive behavior

Reluctance or refusal to undress in front of others

Extra aggression or, at the other end of the spectrum, extra compliance

Fear of a particular person or family member

Children who use the Internet are also vulnerable to come-ons by adults online. Among the warning signs of online sexual child abuse are these:

Your child spends large amounts of time online, especially at night.

You find pornography on your child's computer.

Your child receives phone calls from people you don't know, or makes calls, sometimes long distance, to numbers you don't recognize.

Your child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know.

Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.

Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.

Your child is using an online account belonging to someone else.

Emotional child abuse: types and warning signs

Emotional child abuse involves behavior that interferes with a child's mental health or social development: one website calls it "the systematic tearing down of another human being." Such abuse can range from verbal insults to acts of terror, and it's almost always a factor in the other three categories of abuse. While emotional abuse by itself doesn't involve the infliction of physical pain or inappropriate physical contact, it can have more long-lasting negative psychological effects than either physical abuse or sexual abuse.

Examples of emotional child abuse include:

**Verbal abuse**

Belittling or shaming the child: name-calling, making negative comparisons to others, telling the child he or she is "no good," "worthless," "a mistake."

Habitual blaming: telling the child that everything is his or her fault.

**Withholding affection**

Ignoring or disregarding the child

Lack of affection and warmth: Failure to hug, praise, express love for the child

**Extreme punishment**

These are actions that are meant to isolate and terrorize a child, such as tying the child to a fixture or piece of furniture or locking a child in a closet or dark room.

**Corruption**

This involves causing a child to witness or participate in inappropriate behavior, such as criminal activities, drug or alcohol abuse, or acts of violence.

Emotional abuse can come not only from adults but from other children: siblings, neighborhood or schoolyard bullies, peers in schools that permit a culture of social ostracism (the "mean girl" syndrome). The signs of emotional child abuse include apathy, depression, and hostility. If it happens at school, the child may be reluctant to go to school and develop or fake a physical complaint.

Causes of child abuse

Why would someone abuse a defenseless child? What kind of person abuses a child? Not all child abuse is deliberate or intended. Several factors in a person's life may combine to cause them to abuse a child:

**Stress, **including the stress of caring for children, or the stress of caring for a child with a disability, special needs, or difficult behaviors

**Lack of nurturing qualities** necessary for child care

**Immaturity: **a disproportionate number of parents who abuse their children are teenagers

**Difficulty controlling anger**

**Personal history of being abused**

**Isolation** **from the family or community**

**Physical or mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety**

**Alcohol or drug abuse**

**Personal problems** such as marital conflict, unemployment, or financial difficulties.

No one has been able to predict which of these factors will cause someone to abuse a child. A significant factor is that abuse tends to be **intergenerational** – those who were abused as children are more likely to repeat the act when they become parents or caretakers.

In addition, many forms of child abuse arise from ignorance. Sometimes a cultural tradition leads to abuse. Such beliefs include:

Children are property.

Parents (especially fathers) have the right to control their children in any way they wish.

Children need to be toughened up to face the hardships of life.

Girls need to be genitally mutilated to assure virginity and later marriage.

Effects of child abuse

Child abuse can produce dire consequences during the victim's childhood and adulthood. Some effects of child abuse are obvious: a child is malnourished or has a cast on her arm; a nine-year-old develops a sexually transmitted disease. But some physiological effects of child abuse, such as cognitive difficulties or lingering health problems, may not show up for some time or be clearly attributable to abuse. Other effects of child abuse are invisible or go off like time bombs later in life.

Emotional Effects of Child Abuse

Just as all types of child abuse have an emotional component, all affect the emotions of the victims. These effects include

Low self-esteem

Depression and anxiety

Aggressive behavior/anger issues

Relationship difficulties

Alienation and withdrawal

Personality disorders

Clinginess, neediness

Flashbacks and nightmares

Many adults who were abused as children find it difficult to trust other people, endure physical closeness, and establish intimate relationships.

Behavioral Effects of Child Abuse

Child abuse can play itself out not only in how its victims feel but in what they do years later. Children who suffer abuse have much greater chances of being arrested later as juveniles and as adults. Significant percentages of inmates in U.S. prisons were abused as children. One of every three abused or neglected children will grow up to become an abusive parent.

Other behavioral effects include

Problems in school and work

Prostitution

Teen pregnancy

Suicide attempts

Criminal or antisocial behavior

Alcohol and drug abuse

Eating disorders

Spousal abuse

Getting help for an abused child

Although many people are reluctant to get involved in other families' lives, when it comes to child abuse, you don't have the option of keeping mum. If you know of a child being abused or even suspect abuse, you have the responsibility to report it. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, the concept of **mandatory reporting **of suspected child abuse is well established and is beginning to catch on in other countries around the world. Laws on mandatory reporters designate classes of professionals — typically school personnel, social workers, health care workers, mental health professionals, childcare providers, and law enforcement personnel, but in some states also clergy, film processors, and drug abuse counselors — who must report suspected child abuse. **Eighteen states and Puerto Rico require **_**all**_** citizens to report suspected abuse or neglect.**

By reporting, you can make a tremendous difference in the life of a child and the child's family, especially if you help stop the abuse early. Early identification and treatment can help mitigate the long-term effects of abuse. If the abuse is stopped and the child receives competent treatment, the abused child can begin to regain a sense of self-confidence and trust. Parents may also benefit from support, parent training and anger management.


	3. IMPORTANT!

This isn't a chapter, in fact it's a message to DamselNOTinDistress, just to let her know that her PM is disabled, so I can't PM her.


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